anime

Umaru Doma is a teen who has a reputation for being perfect on the outside world but is actually spoiled rotten at home, with her pet/manservant brother always reluctantly cleaning up after her. All she does at home is laze around, eat junk food (without ever ruining her figure), and play video games. Basically, my ideal teenage life! XD

In the series title, Himouto!! Umaru-chan, Himouto is a wordplay between himono-onna (a young woman who doesn’t care about her manly behavior/indoor appearance and has given up on relationships) and imouto (younger sister). Sounds familiar?

This hoodie-blanket is perfect for lumping! ❤

Begging non-existent onii-chan to do my bidding

Costume is still half-baked ’cause I don’t have the right wig yet and can’t do a decent photoshoot. :3 Nina also wants to do this character, so we agreed to share her.

She’s cute and perfect and all, but the most appealing aspect of Umaru to me is her high level of gaming skill. She is undoubtedly one of the best gamers in the anime universe. So I was more excited to put together the outfit (complete with the hat and bag) of her gaming persona, UMR.

An arcade photoshoot would be great! I haven’t had the opportunity to arrange it yet, the photographers I know are so busy. But I did get to wear it for my friend Nathan’s birthday (too embarrassed to wear the hat though XD).

It’s ToyCon again, and I went as our favorite INTJ tsuntsun from Inu X Boku SS, Ririchou! Naturally, Nina went with me as Karuta (their personalities don’t match since Nina’s outgoing and extroverted while Karuta likes being solitary, but both are quite cute).

It’s the first time I got praised for my makeup. :O I was so surprised since I don’t know how to put on makeup artistically.

Unfortunately we didn’t get to take decent pictures ’cause we were busy exploring the place, and I had trouble maintaining the wig. 😐 We’ll have a photoshoot someday for sure!

Mio Akiyama from K-On!, everyone! I had no concept art for this, but it was what I was gunning for. All I had in my mind was:

Playing maid isn’t my thing (I’d rather have someone else play maid for me, haha), but since Nina wanted to dress up as the main girl (?) from Kaichou wa maid sama, this is the easiest route for me. XD

I was in charge of the logistics this time. I hired a photographer friend with whom I got acquainted last summer over Rubik’s cubes, and had the cafe of my favorite hotel with an introverted vibe reserved (for free!).

The perfectionist in me was a bit bothered by the inaccuracy of the costume (no contact lenses either), but it’s the only maid costume I could get my hands on on such short notice, so no time to be choosy. Close enough!

And of course, we brought our dear friends Joey and David to help us with the shoot (and be our masters on-cam, lol

My friends and I went to ToyCon, and I had multiple embarrassing moments. How do I say the name of the character I’m cosplaying without seeming offensive or implying that I’m a fan of a hilariously vulgar anime series? Nina has it better… haha.

We dressed up as angel sisters Panty and Stocking Anarchy from the series Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Stocking is an insufferable goth, while Panty is an alpha bitch. (We don’t have Garterbelt ’cause we’d be needing a tall black dude.) I don’t know how to explain the series in milder terms ’cause it’s very vulgar. It’s the first anime to stretch the limits of my open-mindedness!

Basically, Powerpuff Girls for adults.

This time, I outsourced the props-making from a group of UPD fine arts majors, and had the dress made in UPD as well. That made it pretty convenient to monitor the costume’s progress. 😀 As always, acquiring auxiliary parts of the costume was pretty hard, but we pulled it off just in time.

I was also fortunate enough to be chosen as a photoshoot subject for my femme fatale look. Yay? It was very hard to maintain a good smile for a long time.

Nina wanted to cosplay as Menma, the ghost child from the anime series AnoHana, so I decided to go as a zombie girl for a supernatural photoshoot. 😀

This is Rea, from Sankarea. She might not look like a zombie ’cause she retained her beauty, mobility, and free will after death, but she is! She has red eyes and eats hydrangea leaves to counter the effects of rigor mortis.

We held the shoot at Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife. David and kuya Hell served as our trusty cameramen and baggage carriers, haha. The place was bustling with people on this fine cloudy day. I was actually hoping for some sun to have a better lighting, but with a few contrast adjustments it turned out okay.

Good thing David could come even if he was a bit sick. We headed to Ramen X to let them have a taste of my favorite ramen afterwards. Nina wanted to continue the photoshoot there, but I dislike having my photo taken while eating (either too unflattering or unnatural -__-).

It’s been a long while since I last worked on a cosplay project. My newfound friend Nina, who is quite passionate with this hobby, asked me to be her long-time cosplay partner. Her incredible optimism amazes me, so I agreed in the hopes of strengthening our friendship. We went to the annual Best of Anime convention together as the two main characters from Black Rock Shooter.

For 2 months I worked on securing the wig, cloth, and materials for the skull, chains, horns, wings, and crafted the scythe with the help of my friend David. The black dress made by my trusted couturierre in Marikina looks great. It was my first time to wear colored non-graded contacts.

I had to cram the costume on afternoons and weekends since I had to focus on schoolwork, which was a bad thing since my perfectionist tendencies insist on creating a high quality, and that caused me a great deal of stress. In the convention, I was so self-conscious because I thought the audience would notice all the imperfections in my appearance. I was so surprised when they complimented me and took countless photos with us.

I recently finished watching a magical girl anime series, Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It has so far been one of the most devastating anime series I’ve ever watched. Word of advice: do not be fooled by the cuteness and innocence of the characters.

Of course, it induced an impulse-drawing spree of my favorite magical girls (personality-wise).

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The past few weeks have honestly been very sad for me. I have lost a dear friend due to unresolved trust issues, and it’s weighing me down. Here’s where art comes in, as a convenient mode of expression and a tool for release.

I drew this piece for my friend, thinking of the song he sang to me on a friday evening, “99 Red Balloons”. These, I swear, are my final conscious thoughts of him.